Running to stand still

Frank Thomas dons a Hall of Fame cap
after his election.

The writers did better than I expected: They elected three players to the Hall of Fame, all first-timers: Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and Frank Thomas.

They came two votes shy on Craig Biggio, and that somehow was the big initial story, that Biggio just missed. In the context of the argument over the 10-vote limit, Biggio matters; there were plenty of writers who said, Well, if I could go over 10, yeah, I'd have voted for Biggio. The problem I have with that is: How the devil, even on this loaded ballot, do you get 10 guys better than Biggio? Answer: You don't. Not if you're being serious in your thinking.

I suspect those who would have voted for him didn't leave him off because they thought there were 10 better choices on the ballot. They were strategic voting -- giving votes to players they feared might fail to get the 5 percent they need to stay on the ballot. But Biggio, who in most of the late predictions was seen to be just on the edge of election, was the wrong guy to do that with.

Biggio will (probably) get in next year, although the backlog of highly qualified candidates isn't getting smaller. Yes, Maddux, Glavine and Thomas are off for 2015, and so is Jack Morris, who has been bypassed for the 15th and final time by the writers. But next winter the BBWAA ballot will include Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, John Smoltz and Gary Sheffield.

The upshot is: I saw 18 legitimate candidates on this ballot; four of them have been cleared off, and there will still be 18 legitimate candidates next winter. Even when electing the most players they have since 1955, the writers were simply running to stand still.

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Here in Minnesota, of course, the big angle was Jack Morris not getting in. As you know, I don't have a problem with that. He wouldn't have been in my 10 if I had a vote.

300-win lefties and other old themes

The Monday print column was a collection of trivia about the six left-handed pitchers with 300 wins.

It was, at one point, going to be an attempt to rank Randy Johnson and Tom Glavine, but ESPN.com's Rob Neyer, Jayson Stark and Jim Caple did it better than I was going to (and at greater length). My only quibble with their work is that Tom Glavine (above) didn't get a mention. If they can consider the likes of Carl Hubbell, Whitey Ford, Eddie Plank and Sandy Koufax — if only to dismiss them — they should have cited Glavine.

Glavine is Warren Spahn writ small — a consistent winner who had a fastball more noted for its command than its velocity and the ability to change speeds. They even spent the bulk of their careers with the same franchise. There's no way I'd argue that Glavine was superior to Spahn — 305 wins is impressive, but still 58 behind Spahn — but still.

* The Twins offense in day games after Sunday's LOB festival: 72 runs in 19 games, 3.79 runs per game.

* NUN Jamie Hoffmann had a hit last week. That's the good news. The bad news is he went 1-for-10, mostly as a pinch hitter, and his batting average is .190.

All done for Glavine?

Tom Glavine signed with the Atlanta Braves this offseason -- the one team he was willing to play for -- got hurt, made his way through rehab, and just when he declared himself ready to pitch, the Braves released him.

It seems harsh, but the reality is that the Braves aren't the Braves of Glavine's heyday, and there really isn't much point in giving a 43-year-old, even a Cooperstown-bound 43-year-old, 22 starts the rest of the season. It's time for them to give Tommy Hanson, a prime prospect, the ball and the chance to develop.

Glavine can probably still help a contender, but whether he wants to is another matter. He's got 305 lifetime wins, a World Series ring and more than enough money.

* Speaking of old lefties once-great and now something less, Randy Johnson got rained out Wednesday. He's slated to try for win No. 300 Thursday.

* Last season Cliff Lee got snippy with Carlos Gomez when Go-Go bunted. same thing happned Wednesday. It seems so obvious that bunting on Lee bugs him that it really ought to be the Twins strategy some day -- bunt, bunt, bunt until he can't think straight.